My grandfather was a funeral musician. He has dealt with various folk musical instruments all his life - erhu, snare drum, suona... It can be said that he is proficient in all of them.Apart from these now obsolete folk instruments, he lived with nothing but the dead.It's his job and he can't say no.All he needs to do every day is to play a piece of music and send those guys who are kicking with their eyes closed to the paradise early. For a long time, this kind of work has been regarded as low-class - after all, it is not glamorous to eat and earn money from the dead.But in their era, it was a blessing to be able to eat a full meal, and no one cared whether the food was dead or alive.Most of the partners around Grandpa entered the business like this, but Grandpa was a little different from them when he took this step.

In 1936, grandpa was thirteen years old.It is said that wars were brewing everywhere in the outside world at that time, but across Chongqing, thousands of mountains and rivers, there seemed to be no ominous omens, and people's lives were still not painful. It was summer and the weather was surprisingly hot.Before the sky was bright, the heat had already enveloped the entire valley, "steaming" people awake from their sleep. Early in the morning, my grandfather followed my great-grandfather to mine coal in a nearby ravine.At that time, my grandfather’s family was very poor. If he didn’t work at the landlord’s house, all his income would be from the coal cinders mined in the small ravine a few kilometers away, except for the barren land.Every morning, grandpa and great-grandfather got up before dawn and set off with the food prepared by great-grandmother.If you are lucky, half a basket of cinders can be mined a day, which is basically enough for a family to eat porridge for a day.However, the mining alone cannot be done. After collecting two loads of cinders, grandpa and great-grandfather had to carry the cinders to the county town to sell them.

When I was talking about this, my grandfather told me a strange incident that happened on the road selling coal: One morning, at about three o'clock, grandpa was pulled out of bed by great-grandfather.The great-grandfather gave half of the cinders to the grandfather, and the father and son walked along the stone road to the county town under the bright moonlight. From the county seat to my hometown, there is now an asphalt road, and it takes more than an hour to drive.At that time walking, I think at least four hours. Grandpa said that the moonlight was very bright that day, shining on the mountain road, just like daytime.Grandpa followed great-grandfather on the winding stone slabs.Because grandpa stayed in bed and wasted time, great-grandfather scolded him all the time.Back then, grandpa had a very stubborn temper, and the more his great-grandfather scolded him, the more unconvinced he became.When great-grandfather stopped to catch his breath, he simply stepped forward.

As Grandpa walked, he cursed secretly in his heart.Most of the poor people in that era were uneducated, besides, children in their teens didn't understand any taboos, and they kept muttering and cursing their great-grandfather's mother.But when he walked about a hundred meters with his head depressed, a strange scene suddenly appeared in front of him.At that moment, he felt that he couldn't open his eyes at all, and the white light in his sight seemed to be pinched, making his eyes hurt. Just when Grandpa felt that his eyes were about to burst open, the light suddenly weakened.Grandpa slowly opened his eyes, only to see a stone slab shining silver in the moonlight less than three meters away from his feet.Grandpa was stunned for a moment, he stared intently at the silver slate.

Is that silver?It was as if a flower had bloomed in Grandpa's mind.He squatted down and was about to touch the slate, but the slate suddenly turned into a rabbit, alive! Grandpa yelled in fright, and sat down on the cold stone slab.The great-grandfather stepped forward in response, and saw that the grandfather was already dumbfounded, and the great-grandfather also found the rabbit.The great-grandfather was rich in experience. He reached out his hand to cover the mouth of the grandfather who was still panting heavily, and raised his middle finger to his mouth to signal him to keep quiet.

The rabbit on the opposite side stared blankly at the two of them.Great-grandfather slowly knelt down and stretched out his hand to catch it.Unexpectedly, Grandpa regained his composure at this moment and yelled: "What a fat rabbit, I want to eat you!" Startled by Grandpa's sudden cry, the rabbit took a step back and grinned at the two of them.When the two were in a daze, it jumped into the ravine as soon as it turned around and disappeared. Because of this incident, great-grandfather often scolded grandpa.According to legend, this kind of rabbit is a silverware that fell from the Heavenly Palace. If you can catch it, your family will not have to worry about food and clothing in the future.But this perfect opportunity made grandpa mess up.

When Grandpa recalled this incident, he laughed heartlessly. Closer to home, my grandfather went out to mine coal with his great-grandfather as usual that day.At noon, my great-grandmother came to the mine and called my great-grandfather and grandpa home, saying that a close friend of my great-grandfather had come home. After learning his name, the great-grandfather put away his hoe and shovel without saying a word, and took his grandfather home.That day was the first time grandpa saw this person. At that time, he didn't know that this person was the master he admired so much later, nor did he know that it was this person who led him on an extraordinary road.